HaloBahasa

Indonesian possessives: the endings that replace pronouns

Indonesian sticks possession onto the end of the noun. Three endings cover most of what you need.

a1Lesson 23 of 435 min

By the end of this lesson

  • Say my, your and his or hers two different ways
  • Recognise -nya, which does far more than possession

The long way

Put the owner after the thing. This is the pattern from the names lesson.

Two young women stand side by side, each holding her own bag close to her, one bag coral and one bag navy, clearly one each.

rumah saya ‘my house’
nama kamu ‘your name’

The short way

The casual pronouns shrink into endings and attach to the noun.

rumahku ‘my house’
namamu ‘your name’
rumahnya ‘his house, her house’

These are the same register as aku and kamu: warm, informal, for people you know. With a stranger or someone older, use the long form with saya.

-nya is the busy one

-nya means his or hers, but it also marks something as specific, the way English “the” does. This is one of the highest-frequency endings in the language.

Harganya berapa? ‘How much is it?’, literally ‘its price how much’
Enaknya! ‘How tasty!’

You will meet -nya constantly before you fully understand it. For now: if a word ends in -nya and possession makes no sense, it is pointing at something specific in the situation.

Punya

For emphasis, or when the possession is the point of the sentence:

Ini punya saya. ‘This is mine.’
Kamu punya motor? ‘Do you have a motorbike?’

Words from this lesson

-kumyAttached to the noun. Casual. From aku.
-muyourAttached to the noun. Casual. From kamu.
-nyahis, her, itsAlso marks definiteness, like 'the'.
punyato have, belonging to

Check yourself

Four questions on what's above. Pick one and the answer explains itself. No score, no streak, nothing to sign up for.

  1. 1.'My house', said to a stranger. Which form?

  2. 2.'Your name', to a friend, in the short form. nama___

  3. 3.What decides between rumah saya and rumahku?